Important works by Areogun of Osi from Nigeria

The April sale will be the first in Lempertz’ (the leading specialist for Oceanic and African art in Belgium) new collaboration with Artcurial in the field of African and Oceanic art, a collaboration which has for some considerable time, achieved great success in the field of jewellery auctions ...

The 349 lots comprising Lempertz auction on April 9 include a large collection of Yoruba artefacts collected by Mareidi and Gert Stoll during their time in Nigeria in the 1960s. On their return to Munich they set up Galerie Schwarz-Weiss which quickly earned a reputation for the quality and range of its Yoruba artworks.

A Yoruba Olojufoforo mask has been widely published and exhibited (lot 332, 30/40,000 Euro). The sale includes more than 100 Yoruba twin figures, many of which feature in the Stolls’ important work on the subject, Ibeji. Zwillingsfiguren der Yoruba / Twin Figures of the Yoruba. The collection also comprises divination trays, containers, masks, brassware, doors and an exceptionally large palace door from the Nupe people of Nigeria (lot 350, €6/8,000). A door by the renowned carver, Areogun of Osi (lot 306, 15/20,000 Euro), was photographed in situ in the 1960s and is reproduced in the important work by Kevin Carroll, Yoruba Religious Carving (London, 1967).

The sale also includes an important bowl and carver by the same carver (lot 180, €25/30,000). An important Hemba figure was collected by the father of its present owner in the 1970s (lot 232, €20/30,000). Four graveposts from Madagascar include two collected by the Congregation of the Holy Spirit in Berg en Dal, the Netherlands (lots 274 – 277). A remarkable Baga shoulder mask was once owned by the Parisian dealer and friend of Picasso, Ernst Ascher (lot 146, €10/15,000). Amongst a fine group of figures from the Congo is a rare figure of a female holding a snake once in the collection of the famous collector, Jay Last of Pennsylvania (lot 239, €15/20,000). A fine selection of ivory artefacts includes several Lega figures with interesting provenance (lots 242 – 245) and a Luba female figure pendant formerly in the collection of the Palm Springs Museum (lot 247, €10/15,000).

Two fine ivory bracelets from Sudan are from the Nuer and Shilluk peoples (lot 257, €8/12,000 and lot 255, €1,5/2,000). Following the success of our last sale, A Sculptor’s Eye, in October 2018 (an outstanding German private collection of mainly Oceanic art), a further group of Pacific artefacts from the same source includes shields, drums, bowls, paddles, costumes and other artefacts from New Guinea (lots 46 to 98). Numerous Pacific clubs and paddles in the sale include fine examples from Fiji, Tonga, New Zealand, the Austral Islands, Vanuatu, the Solomon Islands and New Caledonia.

Downloads